Massage for Sciatica

June 20th, 2014

The Sciatic nerve emerges from the spinal cord at the lower
lumbar vertebrae and travels the length of the leg. Any impingement upon
the sciatic nerve can cause a painful condition known as Sciatica. The
pain will typically begin in the back or the affected buttock and travel
down the leg, sometimes all the way to the foot.

The sciatic nerve is
interesting because as it makes its way through the buttock, it passes
between two of the rotator muscles: the Piriformis and the Obdurator Internus.
Adhesions between these two muscles (or excess
tightness of the Piriformis) can pinch the sciatic nerve, causing
sciatic pain.

One common massage treatment for sciatica is therefore to
lengthen & differentiate the rotators from eachother. This can be
accomplished by a skilled therapist trained in
Deep Tissue work.
Differentiation basically involves severing any adhesions that exist
between two muscles with focused pressure and precision.

Adhesions are
formed when two muscles bind into eachother, usually via scar tissue. If
significant adhesions exist between two muscles, their ability to
function independently is impaired. This can exacerbate the condition.
Typical causes of adhesions include:

Injury (i.e. falling very hard on
one's rump, as might happen while snowboarding or ice skating)

Working
out until you "feel the burn" and not really stretching out afterwards,
especially on an intense, habitual basis, such as in bodybuilding,
weightlifting, or marathon training.

Long-term postural misalignments

The good news about adhesions is that expert
Deep Tissue massage,
particularly
Structural Integration
and Rolfing, have techniques
designed specifically to deal with them. Rapid resolution may result in
noticeably increased mobility within just 1-3 sessions.

The other common
cause of Sciatica is impingement on the nerve within the spinal column
itself. This may be caused by:

Significant misalignment of the lower
back.

Bulging disks between the lumbar vertebrae.

Excess compression
within the lower back.

Again, Deep Tissue
massage therapy techniques
exist to address these issues. In particular, lengthening and spreading
the muscles of the lower back can not only relax hyper-tense muscles,
but can subtly stretch the affected area in ways that may contribute to
relieving the pain-causing pressures.